CIPD - Trade unions: a short history

Employee relations

Originally issued May 2004; latest revision July 2007

This factsheet:

outlines the history of the trade union movement.

For many of the generation of personnel professionals who have recently retired, or are nearing retirement, dealing with trade unions was once central to their jobs. But many of their younger predecessors will have had little experience of unions, due to changing social, economic and legislative conditions. Since 1997, however, the pendulum has swung again and unions have regained some influence, if not as much as previously. Because we can often only understand where we are going by knowing where we have come from, this fact sheet is for those members, younger professionals as well as students, who feel they need to know more about how trade unions developed.

The early years to 1850

There is a tendency to think of trade unions as products of the factory system. But they had their origins much earlier, in the mediaeval craft guilds which were established to control entry to crafts and ensure that artisans were not overwhelmed by numbers; and hence to ensure a degree of price control. In short, they were about controlling the market. Guilds were also about providing mutual aid to dependents; in the absence of state protection in case of illness, they were forerunners of friendly or mutual societies. As markets began to expand in the eighteenth century, some craftsmen began to employ others, leading to the appearance of journeymen's organisations to provide mutual aid, support for widows and orphans, and to assist those who had fallen on hard times. There are many recorded instances of strikes in various localities to increase wages or decrease hours during this period, leading to pressure from employers to ban what were known as 'combinations': there were 30 pieces of legislation between 1720 and 1799 to ban combinations among specific groups of workers, culminating in two General Combination Acts in 1799 and 1800 outlawing combinations and strikes in England and Wales. So towards the end of the eighteenth century one could say that the journeymen's societies had developed into trade unions.

This period saw the development of the factory system, and with it urbanisation, rapid social change, and social unrest. Despite the Combination Acts, which were little used, combinations continued to spread across a range of occupations and the Acts were repealed in 1824. However, in 1825 a new measure was introduced which restricted the right to combine only for specified actions over hours and wages, and introduced new offences covering intimidation and molestation of other workers. In 1834 there was an attempt to establish a Grand National Consolidated Trades' Union bringing together all the unions, but it never attracted general support. But it was in agriculture in the same year that the most memorable crisis arose, over the sentencing to transportation of five labourers in Tolpuddle, Dorset for taking illegal oaths. Public outcry and the questionable legality of the sentence led to their sentences being quashed in 1840, but it was symptomatic of the time; there was widespread intimidation both by employers and the state towards union organisation in the first half of the nineteenth century. One serious problem was the master and servant legislation, which made it a criminal offence for a worker to break his contract, while for employers it was only a civil offence.

1850 - 1880: amalgamations and legal changes

Until 1850, unions had been local affairs and (with the exception of the miners) continued to be craft-based. But from the middle of the century, the growth of railways meant that communications were easier, and amalgamations began to take place. The engineering industry, mainstay of the Victorian economy, was in the lead and the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE) was established in 1850. Its model was the friendly society, providing unemployment, sickness and disablement benefits, and a funeral allowance. In recognition of this, a series of acts was passed in the 1850s and '60s to protect unions' funds, culminating in the Trade Union Act 1871. Certain other merging unions - for example in woodworking and tailoring - followed the ASE's model, but others kept their friendly society and trade sections separate. And many local societies remained; even the national unions still gave much autonomy to branches and districts, and there was a constant danger of breakaways. The model was still protection of craft status, with the aim (like the earlier guilds) of limiting entry and even when technological change took place, of preserving jobs for their members. They were exclusively male; although women were entering the labour market in increasing numbers, there was hostility to women penetrating new areas of work.

Alongside the growth of national unions came the development of trades councils from around 1858 in major towns and cities. Bringing together unions locally, their aim was to co-ordinate support in disputes and to help create a climate of opinion more favourable to the unions. In 1868, the Manchester and Salford Trades Council called what is usually taken as the first meeting of what was to become the Trades Union Congress (TUC), an annual meeting to encourage collaboration between unions and put pressure on the government. By the 1870s, the TUC had a full-time general secretary and by 1895 representation at the TUC was restricted to unions, and trades councils were excluded altogether to avoid dual representation. The TUC's Parliamentary Committee took a growing role in representing the union view to government.

Industrial disputes continued, unsurprising at a time of rapid change when new working practices and technologies were being introduced. The major strikes were almost always about how work should be carried out and who could be employed on particular tasks; entry and preservation of craft status (which implied having served an apprenticeship) remained predominant aims. Most strikes began as unofficial affairs, later ratified by a sometimes reluctant national leadership; this feature was still evident a century later. But most union leaders had an interest in stability; apart from other considerations, strikes were a threat to their funds, and unions have never been well-funded.

The law, however, was still problematic. The 1825 Act, an 1859 successor and various civil law rulings meant that the poorly-defined offence of 'molestation' remained an issue, as was the master and servant legislation. The Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1871 confused the situation further. But the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875 specifically permitted peaceful picketing and laid down that nothing done in furtherance of a trade dispute would be criminal unless the action itself was criminal. The Trade Union Amendment Act 1876 extended protection of funds to all trade unions, not just to those which would otherwise have been 'in restraint of trade'.

1880 - 1914: union growth

By the beginning of the 1880s, the number of trade unionists has been estimated at around three-quarters of a million, most in skilled trades although the majority of the workforce was unskilled. There had been attempts in the past to organise unskilled and semi-skilled workers, including women, but recessions and the precarious nature of such employment meant that they had been mostly short-lived. But in the 1880s, led by seamen, dockers and gas workers who held notably successful strikes, serious organisation of the unskilled and semi-skilled began. Women too formed separate trade unions. The predominant ideology behind the craft unions had been Non-Conformism and self-help. During the period of the growth of new unions, socialism began to play a part and many young activists were inspired by it.

But the climate tended towards the anarchic: these so-called 'new unions' competed with each other, often with intense inter-union rivalry. This was not confined to the new unions: new processes were blurring traditional patterns of working, and in engineering and shipbuilding there were demarcation disputes between the craft unions, refusals to support semi-skilled workmates in disputes, and even industrial action against them. There were growing demands for closed shops, in which only union members could be permitted to be employed, and blacklisting of employers not recognising unions increased. The result was a spate of legal actions in the 1890s, culminating in the Taff Vale Judgment of 1901 which held that trade unions could be held liable for wrongful acts committed by their officials. A further judgment, Quinn v Leathem, ruled that a strike could be regarded as a conspiracy to injure, and once again unions could be held liable for the damages. These judgments had the further effect of making the leadership of unions realise that a voice in Parliament was needed to protect their funds, and by 1904 over half the unions affiliated to the TUC were also affiliated to the Labour Representation Committee, the forerunner of the Labour Party.

The coming of a Liberal Government in 1905 brought about the Trade Disputes Act 1906, which reversed the Taff Vale and Quinn v Leathem decisions. Under it, an act carried out by a trade union would not be illegal because it induced a breach of contract, interfered with someone's business, or prevented someone working. But legal challenges were not over. The Osborne judgment of 1909 seemed to prevent unions using their funds to support the newly-formed Labour Party, although support for general political activity was legal. The situation was sorted out by the Trade Union Act 1913, which gave unions the right to establish separate political funds if a ballot of members supported that course, with individual members being free to contract out of the political levy.

Legal developments aside, from the 1880s and up to the First World War, unions were increasingly recognised as having a legitimate place in society. Governments generally wanted social stability, which meant seeking to reinforce moderate union leaders against more militant elements. Many employers had concluded that seeking to exclude unions would be counter-productive, and employers' associations like the Engineering Employers' Federation developed to deal with unions and to provide assistance to their members in national and local bargaining. (Some employers, like those on the railways, did resist however and it is probably no coincidence that both the Taff Vale and Osborne Judgments involved railway companies.) The terms "industrial relations" and "collective bargaining" entered the language, although it is difficult to say precisely when. Amalgamations of unions continued and membership grew rapidly: there were 4.1 million trade unionists in 1914, as against 1.5 million in 1894.

Against this, though, needs to be set the fact that militancy increased markedly in the period before 1914, accompanying an improvement in the economy from 1910. In contrast with their Continental counterparts, Marxism had not taken much hold among British trade unionists during the nineteenth century, but the perceived failure of the Labour Party in parliament led to the growth of syndicalism - the idea that unions could be the focus for the creation of a revolutionary working class which would overthrow capitalism by a general strike of workers united in general trade unions, bringing about workers' control of industry. How far syndicalists actually fomented strikes is unclear, although there is evidence that they did exploit existing situations. But in fact there was not much solidarity between different groups of workers: disputes between them about control of jobs continued and industry-wide amalgamations did not wholly succeed - for example, on the railways different unions were created for footplatemen, clerks and general railway workers, a distinction that still endures today.

1914 - 1945: war and recession

The First World War had a substantial effect on working life generally. With resources needing to be diverted to munitions, and men needed for fighting, government had to intervene in manufacturing. Moves to replace skilled men by semi-skilled operatives ('dilution') meant that new workers, including women, entered the workforce. This was not without resistance. There were recurring disputes, notably on Clydeside, with unions resisting attempts to reduce constraints on manning. By 1915 it had become necessary to introduce a Munitions of War Act, which made strikes or lock-outs at munitions works illegal and required restrictive practices to be suspended for the duration of the conflict. But to reduce employer power, it also laid down that disputes over which practices reduced output had to be referred to arbitration. A significant side-effect was to enhance the power of shop stewards. Stewards had existed from around the 1870s to collect contributions and inevitably union members would take grievances to them. After 1915, because changes in munitions factories were job-specific, employers found themselves (not always willingly) increasingly dealing more and more with stewards to negotiate changes.

In 1916, looking to the end of the war, a committee of officials of employers' associations, trade unions and academics was appointed by the government to make proposals for 'securing a permanent improvement in relations between employers and workmen (sic) and to recommend ways of systematically reviewing industrial relations in the future'. Its main recommendations were to recommend joint machinery at national and district levels, and joint works committees, illustrating acceptance by government that unionism and collective bargaining were normal and needed machinery for their regulation. Although the large unions largely ignored the recommendations, they were seized upon in newer and less well-organised sectors and 74 Joint Industrial Councils (JICs) or Whitely Councils (so-called after the chairman of the committee of enquiry) had been established by 1921, although many of these did not survive long. The main winners were the white collar unions in local government and the civil service which had grown rapidly during the war and which used the new JICs to gain recognition. In these favourable conditions, and with a post-war boom, union membership grew and reached 8.3 million in 1920.

But the boom was followed by a deep recession. Unemployment rose rapidly. In 1921 employers, led by the mine owners, sought wage cuts and the mine owners threatened a lock-out. The miners retaliated by withdrawing safetymen. The Transport Workers' Federation and the railwaymen, which with the miners were part of the so-called Triple Alliance which was pledged to mutual support, threatened strike action and then called it off, perhaps partly because the miners had not consulted them before calling their members out. The results were bitterness and recrimination between unions and imposed wage cuts by employers, often in excess of the fall in living costs. Union membership fell to 4.4 million by 1933.

Meanwhile, employers had started organising themselves. The Federation of British Industries, the forerunner of the CBI, had been established in 1916 to provide employers with a national voice, and in 1921 the TUC replaced its Parliamentary Committee with a General Council aimed at representing the main areas of industry. Among its aims were to try to promote settlements in major disputes and, if these failed, to support the union involved. But, due largely to pressure from the miners, there were to be no limits on the sovereignty of individual unions. However, because of the Trade Union Amalgamations Act of 1917, which simplified the process of amalgamations, mergers of unions accelerated; the most notable outcomes of this process were the creation of the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) in 1920, the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) in 1922, and the General and Municipal Workers' Union (GMWU) in 1924. But there was still no industrial logic: these unions overlapped in many areas, notably the TGWU and GMWU in local authorities, and the TGWU and AEU in engineering. Mergers did not end rivalries.

In 1926 the mine owners again demanded wage cuts. Negotiations broke down. On 30 April 1926 new rates were imposed and the miners struck. Negotiations between the government and the TUC General Council continued for four days, and on 3 May the TUC called out rail and transport workers, iron and steel workers and printer on a sympathetic general strike. It lasted only until 12 May when, with signs of a drift back to work, the TUC called it off, although the most of the miners held on until the end of the year. The strike had been opposed by many within other unions who had found the attitude of the miners inflexible, and it led to the Trade Disputes and Trade Union Act 1927 which outlawed sympathetic strikes.

With the unions weakened and membership still falling, the search was on for other ways of exerting influence on government and employers and the TUC led the way in looking to get the two sides of industry to agree on common economic policies, moves that were to be echoed in the sixties. The mood, especially with a Labour Government taking office for the first time in 1929, was to work to ameliorate the worst aspects of capitalism, not to overthrow it. But not everyone agreed with this approach. The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was growing in influence and, aided by the Soviet Union, encouraged shop floor disruption and even breakaway unions. Some unions like the GMWU banned CPGB members from holding office; others like the TGWU had to discipline Communist members.

The years from 1933 saw economic growth, and with it growth in union membership. Although the level of strikes was low in most industries (mining was an exception), inter-union disputes continued and in 1939 the TUC introduced the Bridlington Principles, which were designed to prevent poaching of members and laid down rules about acceptance of members.

The outbreak of war in 1939 saw similar issues arise as in the previous conflict. More women entered the workforce; dilution again became an issue; and under Order 1305, strikes were banned (although unofficial strikes continued to take place, they were usually of short duration). As in the First World War, collective bargaining and union membership made significant advances, membership rising by 1.5 million by the end of the war. And the power of shop stewards increased, as in the previous conflict, while Communist influence increased in some major unions. Women workers somewhat narrowed the gap in wages, and in 1943 the AEU agreed to admit them to membership and to campaign for a women's rate that was 95% of the male rate. Equal pay made ground in the public sector but not until 1950 did the TUC carry its first resolution for equal pay for women outside the public services.

1945 - 1979: the growth of union power

Unions sought to take advantage of the post-war boom, with full employment, and strikes steadily rose. So too did the power of shop stewards, the influence of the Communist Party and the incidence of the closed shop. Matters came to a head in 1959 when an anti-communist stood against the Communist general secretary of the Electrical Trades Union (ETU), lost narrowly, and took the matter to court. The case showed widespread ballot-rigging and intimidation, and in 1961 the TUC expelled the ETU. More generally, the case highlighted what had been evident for years: that unions were open to be taken over by unrepresentative minorities because of low attendance at branch and other meetings. Even in the ETU's leadership ballot following the scandal, only 13% of members voted.

An overheating economy brought tentative moves for prices and incomes policies from 1957, but both sides of industry were wary of government intervention, preferring to rely on collective bargaining. It needs to be said that employers were every bit as much to blame as unions for the rising tide of disputes. The great majority were not prepared to do the hard work of buying out restrictive practices, and enter into new arrangements for more flexible working in exchange for better pay, conditions and job security. In effect, both sides connived at inefficiency, with a resultant loss of international competitiveness. Wages rose without any comparable gains in productivity. Strikes became known as 'the British disease', although in fact the overall number of days lost was not very different to those lost by other major industrial nations: what was different was that the vast majority of strikes were unofficial and of short duration, and therefore more disruptive.

Governments made efforts to tackle the issue of prices and incomes. A National Economic Development Council was established in 1962, bringing together leaders of employers and unions with government, followed by a Prices and Incomes Act in 1966. Meanwhile, unofficial disputes continued, notably in the construction, motor and national newspaper industries, with separate groups of workers represented by different unions putting in 'leapfrogging' wage claims. In 1968 a Royal Commission under Lord Donovan did a fine analysis of the situation but made few practical proposals, arguing that the voluntary system should remain without the sanction of law and be reformed from within. The Labour government of the time did not accept Donovan, instead publishing a White Paper In Place of Strife, which proposed some sweeteners for the unions such as improved recognition rights. Against this, some of the existing legislative protections were to be removed, unions were to be registered, 'cooling-off' periods were to take place before strikes could take place, and inter-union disputes were to be regulated, with the possibility of unions being fined. All this was too much for the big union battalions and with divided views inside the Cabinet, the government backed down in exchange for what turned out to be largely meaningless assurances from the TUC.

Labour paid for this failure by losing the following general election, and the new Conservative government introduced an Industrial Relations Act in 1971. Under this, every collective agreement made in writing was to be legally binding and a National Industrial Relations Court was to be established with powers to impose a 60-day cooling off period in major strikes, and to require unions to ballot members before strike action. Unions were required to register to get recognition and legal protection. The TUC reacted by requiring affiliates not to register, on pain of disaffiliation. In the event the Act was little used, attempts to bring it into play only succeeding in politicising disputes and bringing few if any gains. Strikes continued to take place and became more protracted, while inflation accelerated well into double digits by the mid-70s, bringing with it wage rises of over 30% in some cases.

A new Labour government repealed the 1971 Act and in 1974 brought in most of what the unions wanted, restoring immunities and strengthening the closed shop, although polls had shown that most of the public (even union members) were opposed to the closed shop. In exchange, the TUC agreed to the Social Contract, an agreement to limit wage rises to no more than the rise in the retail price index. It worked for a while, but in 1977 the TGWU's conference voted against it, and it was dead. Despite all the troubles, and public unease, the 70s were the summit of union power; membership in 1979 peaked at 13 million, representing 55.4% of potential membership. But this was soon to change.

1979 - 2004: decline but not fall

The Conservative government that took power in 1979 introduced a series of laws that increasingly removed many of the rights and immunities possessed by unions. Two Employment Acts of 1980 and 1982 made secondary strike action illegal and picketing lawful only if carried out by workers at their own places of work, permitted post-entry closed shops only if voted for by 85% of workers, and outlawed pre-entry closed shops entirely. Secret ballots were required for union elections under the Trade Union Act 1984, and further Employment Acts of 1988 and 1990 made all closed shops illegal and made unions responsible for unofficial actions by their members unless they disavowed them in writing. Unofficial strikers could be dismissed. The Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act 1993 required seven days' notice of a strike to be given, tightened control over ballots for industrial action, and undermined the Bridlington Principles by granting individuals the right to join a union of their choice. The government's attitude was a complete change from the consensus which had existed for about half a century of including unions as part of the political system: the strategy was of deliberate exclusion aimed at reducing union power to improve productivity, often in the name of 'partnership'.

The new government's attitude, linked with growing unemployment (exceeding three million by the mid-eighties) and public distaste for perceived trade union excesses, meant that employers were emboldened. Militant shop stewards were sacked in the motor industry, and News International took advantage of its move from Fleet Street to Wapping to replace the print unions by members of the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EETPU), leading eventually to that union's expulsion from the TUC. But it was the miners' strike in 1984-85 that was most symbolic. With government backing, the miners were defeated after a long, bitter and often violent struggle. As in the twenties, the miners had gone out on their own and in consequence forfeited much potential support from other unions. The incidence of strikes fell dramatically thereafter, as did the number of working days lost. Britain is now some way down the league table of strikes in OECD nations.

Between 1979 and 1997, union membership fell to around seven million. The cause was not simply legal changes and high levels of unemployment, although many employers did de-recognise unions in this period and new greenfield sites were often kept union-free. Structural changes in the economy, most notably the move from manufacturing to services, meant that large concentrations of employment were fewer. Small employers have always been more difficult to organise than large employers, and white collar workers more difficult than industrial workers. The main concentrations of union membership are now in the public sector.

Labour's return to government in 1997 was never going to mean a return to the seventies. That had always been made clear. Nevertheless, some changes were brought about. The Employment Relations Act 1999 assists unions to claim recognition, while others brought in changes sought by unions such as a National Minimum Wage, and new rights to maternity leave and for part-time workers. Some of the pressure for such rights comes from the European Union, which British unions embraced enthusiastically in the nineties, realising that they were more likely to bring about change via the European route than through domestic policies.

One consequence of the pressures on unions was a rise in amalgamations: in 2007 the TUC had 66 affiliated unions, compared with 109 in 1979. At around six and a half million TUC membership has fallen slightly since the mid-nineties. The emphasis of trade unionism has changed gradually. In a consumer society, unions seek to attract members not only through traditional means but through insurance and credit cards. Legal advice and representation of members at tribunals has grown in importance. Training has received much greater attention and with government funding a scheme of workplace learning representatives has been developed. Unions embrace the equality and diversity agendas. There is much less opposition than in the past to working with employers to improve productivity.

Conclusion

If the emphasis in this fact sheet has sometimes seemed to be on industrial conflict, that is perhaps because all history tends to be written about the headline battles. For the most part, people have belonged to trade unions because they offer protection - in the early days to provide help in the absence of a welfare state, and then to counteract the greater economic strength of employers, to provide legal and other support to members who believe they suffer injustices, and to campaign for reform. They are products of their times, and like other institutions reflect the political and social atmosphere of their day, as well as their own histories. No doubt this will continue to be so in the future.

Useful contacts

Trades Union Congress (TUC)

The Union Makes Us Strong: TUC History Online

Trade unions: a short history